October 3, 2009

TNA Impact: The beginning of a face turn for the Main Event Mafia?

Between the violent dissolution of the alliance between the Main Event Mafia and the World Elite on Thursday’s episode of TNA Impact and the way Kevin Nash has been booked in recent weeks, it almost seems as if the seeds have been planted for a MEM babyface turn.

I’m not saying it will happen or even that it’s likely, but you never know. Strong heel groups such as DX and The Four Horsemen did face turns over the years, and so did the nWo when the faction split into two separate groups.

I don’t think it would take much for the fans to get behind the MEM because of all the big stars in the group. Plus, Eric Young and his World Elite cohorts are not very likable (I mean that as a compliment).

Kurt Angle is a natural heel, but he has shown in the past that he can play the babyface role well. Booker doing his comedy act at the expense of the heels would probably really get over, and Scott Steiner is entertaining in a quirky way. Nash always has a following regardless of what side of the fence he is on. Although officially a heel, Nash has been playing a cool babyface since the start of the Big Sexy World Tour and his feud with Dr. Stevie.

The one big problem with the scenario – and the reason I think it probably won’t happen – is that it would load up the babyface side and there wouldn’t be enough strong heels for them to feud with.

Young is doing a very good job as the leader of the World Elite, but the rest of the group is pretty generic. That would leave Mick Foley and Rhino as the top-level heels. There also is the possibility of Ken “Mr. Kennedy” Anderson and Umaga coming in as heels at some point. I think another intriguing possibility would be to have Jay Lethal start channeling the heel version of Randy Savage and not play the gimmick for laughs as much. There was a hint of going in that direction Thursday when Lethal confronted Amazing Red after Red won a ladder match to determine the No. 1 contender for the X Division title.

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

The verbal confrontation with Mick Foley and Abyss was good. Abyss definitely his held his own on the mic with Foley, which was a little surprising. Foley’s explanation for attacking Abyss last week made sense, as he said that Abyss was nothing more than a Foley wannabe who made his name off Foley’s blood, sweat and tears. I just wish the caricature picture of Foley and Jeremy Borash wasn’t a factor in a serious story line. I suppose you could make the argument that it fits Foley’s maniacal character that something as silly as the Tweak and Tweet Connection picture being destroyed could lead to such a violent attack. One thing I definitely don’t like is how frequently Foley is turning. Since signing with TNA a little over a year ago, Foley has gone from babyface to heel to babyface to heel. ...

There sure were a lot of pull-apart brawls on this show. I get it that TNA stands for Total Nonstop Action and the show has a frenetic pace – which I usually don’t mind – but I started to become numb to all the pull-aparts after a while. ...

The MEM-World Elite feud feels a little rushed, although I like that Young and the World Elite are not being treated as inferior to the MEM. Young putting Booker in his place was tremendous. ...

Angle jumping over the rail disguised as an Abyss fan and attacking Matt Morgan was something no one saw coming. The camera showed the fan a few times during the show, but not in such a way that you suspected anything. ...

You knew when the camera lingered on Bobby Lashley at the end of the show that someone was going to attack him. It turned out to be Samoa Joe, so it looks like Lashley versus Joe at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view on Oct. 18. Joe doing the “Undertaker eyes” when he was choking out Lashley was great . ...

I like the story that TNA is trying to tell with A.J. Styles questioning whether Sting still has the fire in his belly, but I didn’t think the sit-down interview they had with Mike Tenay was that good. Between the corny mood music and Styles’ “I love you, man” bit, it came off a little cheesy. ...

It was a nice debut for Lacey Von Erich as the replacement for Angelina Love in The Beautiful People. I love that she does the famous Von Erich Iron Claw. I wonder if she also does the Discus Punch. Hopefully there is a back story explaining how Lacey is able to just walk right in and become the leader of the BP while original member Velvet Sky takes a back seat. And speaking of Sky and back seats, it’s a real shame that she didn’t do her usual entrance this week. ...

Hernandez looked like a star in his match with Angle, who gave Hernandez a lot of offense. I don’t think I have ever seen a wrestler hold his opponent in a vertical suplex as long as Hernandez had Angle up in the air. ...

Amazing Red really stood out in the X Division ladder match. I thought for sure that Lethal was going to win. By the way, what was up with Consequences Creed’s projectile vomiting after taking a hurricanrana from Red? More importantly, why did TNA feel the need to show a replay of it? ...

Awesome Kong doing the Nasty Boys’ old Pity City deal seemed out of character. It would make more sense for ODB to do that “move.” ...

Judging by Tara’s involvement in the Kong-ODB match, it appears that there will be a three-way match for the title at BFG. That should be good. ...

It’s the match that was 12 years in the making: “Big Daddy Cool” Nash versus “Big Stevie Cool” Dr. Stevie. It actually wasn’t much of a match, though. The best thing about it was Daffney standing outside the ring. ...

It seems like a stretch to equate Traci Brooks’ nude spread on Playboy’s Web site with Christy Hemme’s appearance on the cover of Playboy magazine. That’s like saying that being the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns is as prestigious as starting at quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. ...

The Motor City Machine Guns are finally getting rid of that awful entrance music next week. Talk about long overdue. Here’s what Alex Shelley had to say when I asked him about the Guns’ music during an interview last April: “Without saying anything negative, I can tell you that we had absolutely no hand in creating that music whatsoever. You can draw from this what you will, but there are no fingerprints of ours on that music whatsoever. That music was completely given to us. ... If we could actually pick our music, and hopefully we’ll be able to do something like this, Chris Sabin, Petey Williams and myself have a band with two other guys – we’re called The High Crusade – and we would play our own music. We would go in the studio and figure out something.” Not a bad idea. If you’re curious, check out High Crusade at www.myspace.com/thehighcrusade. ...

Unless I missed it, the announcers never mentioned that former WWE diva Stacy Keibler was hosting "The Ultimate Spike Girl" immediately following Impact. It seems like a missed opportunity. Impact and "Spike Girl" both probably would have gained some viewers if they had been able to get Keibler to make a taped appearance on Impact promoting the show. Borash could have even teased it on his Twitter page: "One of the hottest former WWE divas will appear on Impact!"

Comments

To tell you the truth, i wanted to see Velvet be the new leader of the beautiful peoples. like you said she is the original member. who created the group with Angelina. which means she should've been the leader for a while.. that is until Angelina returns. which would've been interesting. with a Angelina Love vs TBP rivalry. did you notice that both both Velvet and Madison just turn on her?

But Kevin did you here, Lacey Von Erich comments about Angelina Love. that is interesting. i really do hope that interview was a shoot. or else there might be a little problems. between Lacey and Velvet. considering Velvet is Angelina BFF. so she isn't going to let a new comer bash her long time friend.. i believe that might be one of the reasons why TNA order Lacey to apologize to Angelina

what's most interesting. is if Angelina returns back to TNA within 3 or 6 months from how. is how she would get along with Lacey? no better yet is if TNA made them team up together in TBP.. if Angelina return would she want Lacey is her group. considering she already is a 2 Time Knockout Champion. which means if things don't work out between them. Angelina could force TNA to let Lacey is her group. feeling she isn't a good fit in her group.

just like Lacey admitted. Angelina wasn't a good fit in The beautiful peoples. which i fully disagree with her comments !00%. as for TNA last night it was good. and felt a little fresh by not having the same storylines. i mean with Kurt Angel being World Champion for a real long time. kind of made TNA little boring. but with AJ Styles as champion. then to see his program with Sting. it makes you want to turn in to see what happens next. and when Sting will announce that retirement match at Bound For Grory 2009

I won't knock a guy for being a mark for his NFL team (as an Oakland fan I have no room to judge), but come on, Kev! Joe Flacco hardly holds a prestigious job! We're talking about a position most notably held by Trent Dilfer and Kyle Boller! (The more accomplished McNair and Testaverde had only brief spells with the team.)

And yes, I realize you were being at least partially facetious here. haha

I was previously unaware of Lacey Von Erich, so I checked her out on Wikipedia - she's definitely a looker judging by that picture. I'm sorry I missed TNA this week!

Dude, Lacey sucks. A female model doing the claw is hard to buy, but Sarita sold it well. That clothesline was pathetic though. She's hot but seems to be a terrible wrestler. There's no replacing Angelina, and there's no knockout hotter than VS.

I thought it was a decent enough show and they are kind of explaining Foleys heel turn. I think they should just have skipped the whole caricature picture and focused on the fact that Abyss really does look like a Mankind knock off.

Didn't Creed take a nasty move from Bashir just before the vomiting took place (some sort of reverse piledriver...)? I thought that if the puking wasn't fake Creed might have taken a bad bump on his head in that one and ended up with a concussion. At the very least the match was cool and they seem to be teasing a Lethal heel turn which would be cool.

I think Eric Young is an absolutely terriffic heel and I hope he gets a crack at the world title at some stage. How hot is Lacy Von Erich OMG. I miss Angelina Love and I hope she is back in TNA real soon as she was my favourite knockout. Crackin blog Kev keep up the good work.

"Discus punch" LOL,been many years since I've heard that.Brings back a lot of memories,some pleasant,some quite unpleasant.Will Lacey's music be "Tom Sawyer" by Rush?Probly not,theyd have to pay for it.

the tweet and tweek picture and cards is a great little detail and excuse for foley to cover his real reason. things like this make foleys fueds awesome. he has turned so much because he was needed in his face role, simple as that. although his tna heel has been more entertaining.

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